Fusee holder



G. S. KRAF-'FT June 22, 1954 FUSEE HOLDER Filed June 2, 1951 3 A 4 a e 9 a M 4. 2 2,

1 IIJ .llll fmmd/ylf//M/M//Mvr/V l| lll .Il .m llilballlllllwll /NVENTOR GU67AV S. KRAFFT' BY m.

r /'s ATTORNEY Patented `une 22, 1954 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE FUSEE HOLDER Gustav S. Kralt, Santa Maria, Calif.

Application June 2, 1951, Serial No. 229,556

1 Claim.

My invention relates to handles or grips; and a principal object of the invention is to provide a grip or holder for fusees to facilitate their safe, economical and eflcient use.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a utility safety tool of special usefulness to railway brakemen.

The invention possesses other objects, some of which with the foregoing will be brought out in the following description of the invention. I do not limit myself to the showing made by the said description and drawings, since I may adopt variant forms of the invention within the scope of the appended claim.

Referring to the drawings:

Fig. l is a sectional view of my complete fusee holder. The section is taken on the long central vertical axis of the holder.

Fig. 2 is an elevation, partly in vertical section, showing the parts when a fusee is gripped in the holder.

Fig. 3 is a cross sectional View taken in the plane 3-3 of Fig. l; and Fig. 4 is a cross sectional view taken in the plane 4 4 of Fig. l.

Fig. 5 is a top or plan view taken in the direction indicated by arrow 5 in Fig. l.

Fusees have long been used for railway signaling. Commonly, the fuel for the nare is arranged in a paper or pulp board cylindrical casing so loaded as to leave one end as a sort of grip by which the fusee may be handled. Experience over the years shows that railway brakemen and others using these ares are apt to receive painful and sometimes disabling burns on the hands and other parts of the body because of an uncontrolled lare; and burned and ruined gloves and clothing are even commoner results. There is of course an inherent danger in the use of such an implement, which is beyond all provisions of care, but danger of injury and damage can be reduced drastically by providing an eiicient handle in which the fusee may be carried. This is the primary purpose of my invention, but I find it also possible and very desirable to make my i'usee handle or holder of such shape and character as to constitute a utility tool for the brakeman confronted with a stuck or sluggish knuckle in making a coupling between two cars. In such a situation, loosening and opening the knuckle easily and quickly becomes of prime importance. Use of the hands directly is extremely dangerous. My device is shaped to permit its insertion in the casing hole so that it then serves as a handle and lever by which the knuckle may be moved and the coupling completed with safety.

With reference now to the drawings, my fusee holder comprises a hollow cylindrical head including a socket 2 in which the safe end of av fusee 3 may be inserted. The head is extended in a tapered and preferably knurled handle 4, which serves several purposes in the use of my device as a utility tool. When used as a fusee holder the tapered extension 4 provides a convenient handle for the socket; and also, because it is hollow, a chamber 6 in which a portion'of the mechanism is arranged.

When cars are to be coupled, the brakeman nds the tapered handle a convenient pin with which to engage the knuckle and move it with safety to his hands.

Means are provided in the socket for releasably latching the fusee therein, and for ejecting the burned out fusee without touching it with the hands. The socket is structurallycomposed of two cylindrical sections I and 8, the latter continuous with the handle 4, and held in spaced alignment by the outside shell 9 secured to both sections by small screws I2.

The two adjacent edges of the spaced sections lie in divergent planes, as shown, with the edge I3 of the inner section 8 lying in a plane at 90 to the long central axis of the device, and the edge I4 of the outer section I lying in a plane biased across the axis at about 18 to the other plane. There is thus provided between the sections and within the shell, a space for the operation of the latch ring I6, normally held against the biased edge I4 by the spring-pressed rods I1, as shown in Fig. l. The internal diameter of the latch ring is substantially the same as that of the socket.

When the safe end of the fusee is pushed into the socket, it encounters the ring. Continued. pressure pushes the ring down against the springpressed rods I1, to a position near or against the edge I3. At this point the latch is more or less aligned with the rest of the socket, and therefore permits the fusee to pass through it to the maximum penetration desired, the spring-pressed rods however always tending to bias the latch ring so that any separating force is resisted by the lower edge I8 of the ring biting into the side of the fusee casing.

Means for releasing the latch are provided by the slide 2l, mounted within a long bead 22 pressed out from the shell. A button 23 on the slide extends through a slot in the bead so that the slide may be moved by the thumb of the holding hand. A lug 24 on the end of the slide engages the upper edge of the latch ring, so that moving the slide back toward the handle pulls the ring flat upon the edge I3 (the unbiased p0- sition) at which point the bite of the ring on the fusee case is released, and the fusee is freely movable in and out of the socket.

Means are provided for ejecting the burnedout fusee without need for touching it with the hands. Slidably disposed in the Socket and handle is a plunger preferably comprising a central stem 26 With two spaced anges 21 and 28, loosely fitting the cylindrical bore 29 in that part of the handle next to the socket. These iianges and the ared out head 3l give the desired degree of axial alignment of the plunger with the socket. The head is preferably shaped as shown to provide a short stud 32 around which the crimped-in edge of the fusee casing nds a steadying seat. When a fusee is applied to the head and pushed into the socket, the cam-like lower face of the head first engages the latch ring, carrying it down, until the head passes through the ring whereupon the ring is further engaged by the fusee casing, which slips through it to iinal position.

Cross alignment of the head 3l and the outer rim of the socket, in the absence of a fusee, is secured by a pair of stii wire rods 33, seated at their ends in the wall of the section 8 at the proper point to engage the flange 21. The rods are retained in their seats by the surrounding shell 9.

The plunger is resiliently pressed outwardly against the rods 3-3, or against a Vfusee if one is inthe socket, by a coil spring 3:1, bearing at one end against the base iange 28 of the plunger, and seated snugly at the other end in the bore 36, formed in the handle beyond the bore 29, and against the annular shoulder 31, which is formed by the still smaller bore 38, extended toward the end of the handle to still further lighten it.

It is desirable to make the inside diameter of the socket of my fusee holder large enough to accommodate a small variation in the diameters of different fusees. There is a tendency therefore for the latch ring .to press a loose fusee slightly out of axial alignment. This is corrected when desired by oppositely disposed buttons 4l and 42 so placed on the inside of the socket as shown in Fig. 1, as to provide a countervailing inuence to maintain a substantial alignment of the fusee. To the extent that these buttons press into the casing, they assist in holding the fusee securely in the socket. A similar function is performed by the small rounded pins 43 which tend to center a fusee of loose fit in the socket, without preventing insertion of one making a tighter fit".

It will be clear from the above that my device as shown in Fig. 1 provides a convenient pin with which to loosen or move .a coupling knuckle without endangering the hands. In this use, the head or socket portion is readily and safely grasped by the hands, the Whole implement providing a lever of effective length for the application of force to the knuckle. At this time my implement also furnishesa steadying hand hold in a position between the vcars of recognized hazard.

If a fusee is to be used, it is only necessary to push the safe end into the socket, whereupon it may be lighted and handled, not only with greater facility and convenience but with marked lessening of danger from burns .and ruined gloves and clothing. Upon exhaustion of the fusee, the burned out casing is ejected from the socket by the spring-pressed plunger when the slide is pulled back by the thumb to release the latch ring.

Because the danger of painful burns is largely removed, if a fusee is held in my holder while burning, there is less tendency to discard a burning fusee before it is exhausted; and consequently the use of my implement effects a material saving in the number of fusees consumed. Another valuable result owing rather obviously from the safer and easier holding of a burning fusee is the transmission of better and plainer signals.

I claim:

A fusee holder comprising a socket of sufcient diameter to admit the end of a fusee, a plunger slidable in the socket and having its outer end adjacent the open end of the socket, a spring compressed by inward movement of the plunger, a latch ring pivotally mounted in the socket and having an interior diameter sufficient to admit the end of the fusee, a spring interposed between socket .and ring and tending to bias theY ring relative to the socket, a button on the interior face of the socket and between the pivotal point of the ring and the open end of the socket, a second button on the opposite side of the ring and diametrically opposite the rst button, and means on the socket for moving the latch ring from a biased position into alignment with the socket.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 185,147 Tufts Dec. 5, 1876 2,518,296 Ernisse Dec. 11, 1951 

